Ultraman Dyna Mons-Ahgar Bandai Review

You’ll notice that I listed this Kaiju as from the “Modern” Ultra Monster series. That’s because in the early part of the 2000’s, Bandai began a new series of Ultra Monster Figures not numbered in relation to their original vinyls. These included much more accurate sculpting and painting than many of their previous lines (Such as Red King, and are generlly better than the 140 previous efforts. Mons-Ahgar is #13 in the modern and is a creature from a more modern Ultrman series as well, Ultraman Dyna. He first appeared in episode #11.

When the GUTS team travel to the moon, they encounter Hanejiro who acts as a guard dog for a capsule which contains the massive Mons-Ahgar. When Mons-Ahgar is accidentally released, he begins to ravage the moon. The GUTS team are nearly destroyed, because of Mons-Ahgar’s dense skin, which is nearly impenetrable. Eventually Hanejiro helps the GUTS team and Ultraman Dyna, who then does battle with the monster with the odds evened.

There was an earlier version of this figure released as well, without the heavier dark purple paint highlights. On the surface it would look like that version was more accurate, but it only appears that way due to the lighting of the battleground in the episode from which Mons-Ahgar originates. Rest assured it’s actually this version that’s more accurate.

Packaging:
Hey it’s a Bandai vinyl, it comes packed in NOTHING. It has a tag.

These tags have little C shaped hooks on them. They would hang on peg hooks in a Japanese toy store by the dozen.

I know I’ve said this a million times, but it just sort of shows how much more civilized Japanese children are. American toy companies have to wrap their toys in 50 different anti-theft devices, and Japanese kids can get by with peg hooks.

Plenty of details and stats on the tag, but mostly only useful if you can read Japanese.

Sculpt:
One of the things I love about Ultraman, is the wacky monsters. Sure, Godzilla’s bad guys are the best, but Ultraman? He has to fight a new guy each week! So with that sort of mind set, you get to see plenty of creative creatures that you would never see fight Godzilla.

Mons-Ahgar, sometimes called Monsarger, is one of those monsters. Certainly he’s not as out there and strange as some, but he’s still a bit off the beaten path. He reminds me of the kind of monsters that were on the Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad… Which makes sense, the shows were made not that far apart from each other and both from Tsuburaya Productions.

I mean, he’s basically the color of bubble gum. Godzilla would never face a BubbleYum monster… Yet, here he is as an Ultraman villain. This figure is definitely true to the design of the character, with plenty of sharp angles and points. Yet in a way, he actually looks better than the monster suit. Which isn’t always the case.

I have seen some of these with too much purple on them, but mine, honestly seems about perfect. The details in the eyes and teeth are good and come across as well as they did on the show. I’m a fan of toys that replicate areas that might even be deemed flaws by some.

He’s pretty tall, at exactly 7 inches. The regular Ultraman vinyls are supposed to be about 6.25 inches, so this makes him appropriately big. Scale isn’t perfect or even consistent with this line, mind you, but it’s not terrible either. Mons-Ahgar is definitely one of the better scaled ones.

In the episode in which this monster appeared, his skin is known for it’s nearly impenetrable strength. Ultraman Dyna and the GUTS agents try to stop him, but can’t. Thankfully, Hanejiro, a little Pokemon-esque creature reveals Mons-Ahgar’s Achilles’ heel… A large blue cranial dome that when broken, kills the monster. It’s fairly well recreated here, via shiny pearlescent paint. I suppose making it translucent plastic would have really made it pop, but this is a vinyl… So the extra paint ap is good enough.

Articulation:
As a Bandia vinyl figure, articulation is not his strong suit. His arms and legs have simple cut joints and that’s it.

Still, for a monster of this type, he looks okay and can pose well enough. His head never really turned in the show, nor did his tail move. I’m not necessarily justifying the minimal articulation, but most of these monster designs don’t suffer much.

Accessories:
Nadda…

Unless you count disco dome head!

Value:
$13 is about the most you should pay for this guy. He’s fairly large, has a decent design and pretty good (though not great) paint applications. Since he’s vinyl, you don’t have to worry about the kids ever destroying him. The only guy this toy might have trouble with, is your neighbor’s dog. Incredibly, if you shop around you can find these imported often for under $10. A real bargain at that price. If you happen to be stopping by Japan, you’ll pay $6-7 for them

I scored him higher than the classic Red King. that scores here aren’t always cumulative to the areas of criteria. Sums may be greater than their parts. It’s also worth noting, that this is an 8 for a Bandai vinyl. Obviously if you compared it to another series or style of figure, it’d likely score lower… But I believe you have to grade these things accordingly.

COMING THIS WEEK
REVIEW OF ULTRA-ACT ULTRAMAN!!!

Basically, you should know what you’re getting into with these. For what they are, they’re great. They just may not be for everybody. Myself? I love them, though I am curious to see how the super articulated Ultra-Act monsters fare when they start being released closer to next year.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for updates about ULTRAMAN WEEK! And check out the site all week for more Ultraman goodies.